A Love-Hate-Hate-Hate Relationship

Joe Bruno has been in a bad relationship for more than six months now. In January, he was on a "honeymoon" and in a "love fest."

Joe Bruno has been in a bad relationship for more than six months now. In January, he was on a "honeymoon" and in a "love fest." The love lasted a couple of weeks.

Bruno's problem is that this relationship isn't with a girlfriend, but a governor. And, as New York's Senate majority leader, it's nearly impossible for him to break it off.

Bruno brought Governor Spitzer flowers on Valentine's Day, but to no avail. Bruno and Spitzer have feuded over appointments, health care, the budget, campaign finance reform, use of state aircraft and whether or not they were feuding.

A Republican state senator says that when he spoke with the governor, Spitzer called Bruno "an old, senile piece of shit." However, when speaking to the cameras, the governor's tone has been different.

There's been plenty of confrontation (he described his feud with legislators as a "war"), but also condescension ("This is my room, and we're going to play by my rules.") and conciliation. Rarely does he single out Bruno by name and, when he does, he stresses that their spat isn't personal.

Bruno's public comments about Spitzer have been less restrained, which is why I present you with the best of Joe Bruno:

"The governor will learn there are three branches of government," -Newsday, 2/8

"Gov. Spitzer walks on water. Gov. Spitzer is infallible. Gov. Spitzer is the reincarnation of everything that is good and holy - and Bruno is evil." -New York Post, 3/15

More of Bruno's greatest hits after the jump.

"I haven't been knocked on my ass yet, and I am not going to be by this guy or anybody else." -Albany Times-Union, 3/25

"Let's face it, this is a fellow who grew up having anything that he pleased, being able to say anything that he wants to say. That's how he grew up. So it's kind of hard for him sometimes to relate to the average person, the common person, I think." -New York Post, 4/25

"I'm going to keep calling him and everyone around him a hypocrite. He has two sets of rules, one for himself and one for everybody else . . . It's a fraud." -New York Post, 5/17

"Governor, I say this very respectfully, that is nuts." -Staten Island Advance, 6/15

"He ought to understand that we're not a third-world country where he is a dictator." -Newsday, 6/27

"He started it." -AP, 7/2

"It is very unbecoming for a chief executive of this state, I believe, to handle himself like an overgrown, rich, spoiled brat who has tantrums all over the place." -Ithaca Journal, 7/3